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Saturday, April 4, 2015

All The Bright Places Discussion

1. What made you pick up this book in the first place?

S - I picked
up this book after walking past it just a week before thinking nah, I'm
not going to read this book, to actually seeing it everywhere on
BookTube and blogs and then when I saw it again in the shop, said what
the heck I'll give it a try.

L-it had gotten a lot of hype on booktube and i saw on blogs and reviews
that everyone who read it loved it. i saw that it was available in my
library so i thought might as well see for myself.

2. Did you know much about the plot/theme going into the book?

S-No I didn't. I read the blurb back when I saw it released first (I'll
post a picture!!) and then forgot about it for a while to come back and
see it on all the blogs and booktube channels, but I'll be honest, every
time the book came up, I skipped the bit where people explained what
the book was about because I really didn't want to know.
So, long
story short I knew the following going into the book - That the story
was about Violet and Finch. Violet had lost her sister and Finch wanted
to kill himself. And they meet on a bell tower and then there's a school
project about I didn't know what at the time and the ever tragic quote
on the front of the book 'The story of a girl who learns to live from a
boy who wants to die'

L- i knew the theme was mental illness and the plot i knew little about
the characters. all i could gather was that it was about two kids named
finch and violet who were going through something difficult, Finch
looking for ways to die and Violet looking for ways to leave her town
and move on from her sister's passing.

3. What did you think of the characters of Finch and Violet from beginning to end?

S- I liked both characters very much. I connected well with both characters and found them to be very realistic and connectable.
Violet
was a character who I sympathised with at the beginning after hearing
about her situation. but I also found her to be quite, I don't really
know how to explain it, but I didn't like they way she let her sisters
death define her and used it as an excuse to stop writing and stop doing
school work and practically stop her life. But as the book progressed
and as she started to learn how to live again, I really liked the
character of Violet.
Finch was someone who was unpredictable. At the
beginning he was spontaneous and likeable but as the story progressed
it was easy to see that his spontaneous behaviour and character was him
trying to erase his identity and him trying to become someone who didn't
suffer from depression. I thoroughly loved Finch's character, how he
came up with the school project which ultimately did save Violet in the
end, even if it did kill him. I loved Theodore Finch to the very end.
Simple as.

L - I though Finch and Violet were great characters, they were written well.
Finch from the beginning, he was unpredictable, moody, a little weird
but at the same time very smart. Towards the middle of the book is where
you really got see that there was something wrong with him, he acted
unrational,indecisive, would get angry easily. in the end, i felt that
he was very complex characters but he was just looking for someone to
understand him and not judge him. From the beginning, i understood where
Violet was coming from, griefing her sister but i didn't like that she
didn't even want to put any effort at all to get back into a car or
writing even when she was with Finch, she was mean towards him. She kept
letting her sister's death take over her life until the middle of the
book where she learns to live through Finch's help he helps her get over
her fear of being in a car, writing again.

4.Would the story still have had an impact if Finch and Violet had remained close friends?

S-Really thinking about this, I don't think it would have. I had expected
Finch not to die. I don't know why, but when he did commit suicide, I
was taken by surprise. I guess I was just living in a fairytale world
where everything would turn out alright. But it didn't and because of
this it held a bigger impact to the book. Perhaps it would have had an
impact if Finch lived and they both remained friends but how the story
was told gave it a bigger impact in my opinion.

L-i feel like i'm the only one who feel that it still could of because
throughout the book Finch and Violet refer to themselves as best friends
even when they get together. Also, it reminds me of bridge to terabitha
since jesse and leslie were best friends while Leslie's death had a
great impact on him. i think that if Finch and Violet had remained close
friends it would have still be an impact on Violet and she would have
learned from it.

5.what did you think of the way the story portrayed mental illness?

S-- I found the story to portray mental illness very well. Jennifer Niven
captured both the grieving mind and as well as that the way that
depression takes hold and how hard it is to get out of. I believed she
described depression well in the way Theodore felt and the actions that
he took.

L- i thought the story portayed it in a great way because it showa how
anyone can suffer from it and there is always someone that a person can
go to when they feel a certain way. i loved how the author dealt with
the topics of grief, depression, and suicide because it was portrayed in
a way that is realistic and it's topics that not many books talk about
because it is a tough subject to discuss.

6. What did you think of Finch's family and why do you think nobody noticed anything?

S- I really didn't have an opinion as such on Finch's family. I don't
think they did anything wrong. Well not his mother or sisters anyway,
his father, yes. But back to his mother and sisters, many people turn an
eye, it's the living truth. People look away from bad situation,
especially if its someone they love that's getting hurt. I believe that
his mother was feeling bad about the divorce and was more selfish than
she should have been and simply looked away. Finch to her was probably
just going through a bad patch, a phase, something he'd get over. As to
why nobody noticed anything is that Finch hid things very well. He may
have stayed to himself, teenage boy, and had acted out before, hormones,
and his councillor may have suspected something but Finch laughed it
off.

L-i'm not sure what i thought about them because i feel that they were
only there when something needed to happen to get the plot moving on. i
think that it goes with a person not wanting to seek help because they
will be looked at a certain way. With the way Finch's family was, i
think that they just felt it was normal because no one had ever brought
it to their attention that it wasn't.

7.Why do you think the author decided to make Amanda a person with
suicidal thoughts and not reveal this until the middle of the book?

S- I think that the author did this to show that even though people can be
popular and well liked, that they can still suffer from depression. It
isn't just the sad, lonely people.

L- i think that the author decided to make Amanda a person with suicidal
thoughts to show that it can happen to anyone,no matter whether it's a
person who's popular, unpopular, or different.

8.Do you think Finch's death could have been prevented?

S-Honestly, I don't think it could have been. I could be wrong but that is just my opinion.

L-- i think that if Finch had talked to someone sooner, it may have, but
he didn't even want to do that so i don't think so.By the time, he left,
nobody did anything not even Violet until he left messages for
everyone.9.What rating did you give this book?

S- I gave this book a 5 Star rating.

L-i gave this book 5 stars

10.Who would you recommend this for?

S- I would recommend this book for fans of contemporary and realistic
fiction. It is a dark topic which is in this book but still I believe
that it will touch many people's hearts.

L-i would recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary that deal
with tough subjects, if you like Laurie Halse Anderson's books, you'll
love this book.

11.After reading All The Bright Places, would you read another book by Jennifer Niven?

S- I believe I would read another of Jennifer Niven's books if the blurb
caught my attention. I'm usually not a person that just buys books
because a particular author wrote them and just buy books if they
interest me.
L -- i would read another by Jennifer Niven if the blurb of the book catches by interest or if it's recommended by a friend.

It was a great book that Sarah and me both loved and we highly recommend it. This was a great discussion about the book. :)